Book Review: Remaking Social Work with Children and Families: A Critical discussion on the ‘modernisation’ of social care

Book Review: Remaking Social Work with Children and Families: A Critical discussion on the...
Attree, Pamela
2004-05-01 00:00:00
Remaking Social Work with Children and Families: A Critical discussion on the ‘modernisation’ of social care Paul Michael Garrett Routledge: London 2003 0415298393 (pb) £53.56 (hb) and £19.99 (pb) xiii + 193 Order this book? Remaking social work with children and families explores the shape and trajectory of social work in England and Wales, from the early 1990s, in particular the increasing regulation and control to which it is subject. The book makes a convincing argument that in order to understand the ‘remaking’ of social work with children and families it is necessary to appreciate the political and ideological factors driving new initiatives. Amongst a plethora of government measures, the author invites the reader to ‘take a step back’ and cast a critical eye over the ‘modernisation’ of social care. The work explores the centrally driven changes informing social work practice, arguing that the increasing number of assessment tools can be seen as a form of ‘organisational governance’. The book focuses specifically on the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families and the Looking after Children: Assessing Outcomes in Child Care (LAC) assessment models, and critically examines the discourses underpinning their introduction. The structure of
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Book Review: Remaking Social Work with Children and Families: A Critical discussion on the ‘modernisation’ of social care

Abstract

Remaking Social Work with Children and Families: A Critical discussion on the ‘modernisation’ of social care Paul Michael Garrett Routledge: London 2003 0415298393 (pb) £53.56 (hb) and £19.99 (pb) xiii + 193 Order this book? Remaking social work with children and families explores the shape and trajectory of social work in England and Wales, from the early 1990s, in particular the increasing regulation and control to which it is subject. The book makes a convincing argument that in order to understand the ‘remaking’ of social work with children and families it is necessary to appreciate the political and ideological factors driving new initiatives. Amongst a plethora of government measures, the author invites the reader to ‘take a step back’ and cast a critical eye over the ‘modernisation’ of social care. The work explores the centrally driven changes informing social work practice, arguing that the increasing number of assessment tools can be seen as a form of ‘organisational governance’. The book focuses specifically on the Framework for the Assessment of Children in Need and their Families and the Looking after Children: Assessing Outcomes in Child Care (LAC) assessment models, and critically examines the discourses underpinning their introduction. The structure of